The Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) and various other governmental agencies are empowered to impose temporary flight restrictions (“TFR”) in airspace around and above designated geographical locations. A TFR is a restriction on flight activity for all but designated and/or authorized aircraft through an area of airspace (defined both laterally and vertically) for a specified period of time. A TFR may be imposed for a wide variety of reasons. For example, and without limitation, a TFR may be imposed for safety purposes in the vicinity of a natural disaster, for traffic management, for law enforcement, to provide a security zone around government officials, to avoid interruption to space flight operations, to avoid hazardous or inclement weather conditions, and for aerial demonstrations.
If a pilot violates temporary flight restricted airspace, such as by flying through the restricted airspace, law enforcement activity can and/or will ensue. Such enforcement activities may include intercepting the aircraft that has violated the TFR, either on the ground or in the air. Consequently, such enforcement activities can be expensive and disruptive to the operations of various governmental agencies. Accordingly, the consequences for pilots who violate temporary flight restricted airspace can be quite serious and may include the suspension or revocation of the offender's pilots license, and may even include criminal prosecution and subsequent incarceration.
Despite the potentially harsh consequence to a pilot, there have been thousands of accidental violations of temporarily restricted airspace since 2001. It is believed that these violations are caused by pilot ignorance of the restrictions on flight operations in the designated airspace. It is further believed that the pilot ignorance results from the absence of a system that adequately informs and/or warns pilots about the location of such restrictions on flight operations. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that addresses the inadequacies of the existing systems and methods for apprising pilots of the existence and location of TFRs.